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Resolving the Stiffening-Softening Paradox in Cell Mechanics

BACKGROUND: Despite their notorious diversity, biological cells are mechanically well characterized by only a few robust and universal laws. Intriguingly, the law characterizing the nonlinear response to stretch appears self-contradictory. Various cell types have been reported to both stiffen and so...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wolff, Lars, Fernández, Pablo, Kroy, Klaus
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3397976/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22815724
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040063
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author Wolff, Lars
Fernández, Pablo
Kroy, Klaus
author_facet Wolff, Lars
Fernández, Pablo
Kroy, Klaus
author_sort Wolff, Lars
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Despite their notorious diversity, biological cells are mechanically well characterized by only a few robust and universal laws. Intriguingly, the law characterizing the nonlinear response to stretch appears self-contradictory. Various cell types have been reported to both stiffen and soften, or “fluidize” upon stretch. Within the classical paradigm of cells as viscoelastic bodies, this constitutes a paradox. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Our measurements reveal that minimalistic reconstituted cytoskeletal networks (F-actin/HMM) exhibit a similarly peculiar response. A mathematical model of transiently crosslinked polymer networks, the so-called inelastic glassy wormlike chain (iGwlc) model, can simulate the data and resolve the apparent contradiction. It explains the observations in terms of two antagonistic physical mechanisms, the nonlinear viscoelastic resistance of biopolymers to stretch, and the breaking of weak transient bonds between them. CONCLUSIONS: Our results imply that the classical paradigm of cells as viscoelastic bodies has to be replaced by such an inelastic mechanical model.
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spelling pubmed-33979762012-07-19 Resolving the Stiffening-Softening Paradox in Cell Mechanics Wolff, Lars Fernández, Pablo Kroy, Klaus PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Despite their notorious diversity, biological cells are mechanically well characterized by only a few robust and universal laws. Intriguingly, the law characterizing the nonlinear response to stretch appears self-contradictory. Various cell types have been reported to both stiffen and soften, or “fluidize” upon stretch. Within the classical paradigm of cells as viscoelastic bodies, this constitutes a paradox. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Our measurements reveal that minimalistic reconstituted cytoskeletal networks (F-actin/HMM) exhibit a similarly peculiar response. A mathematical model of transiently crosslinked polymer networks, the so-called inelastic glassy wormlike chain (iGwlc) model, can simulate the data and resolve the apparent contradiction. It explains the observations in terms of two antagonistic physical mechanisms, the nonlinear viscoelastic resistance of biopolymers to stretch, and the breaking of weak transient bonds between them. CONCLUSIONS: Our results imply that the classical paradigm of cells as viscoelastic bodies has to be replaced by such an inelastic mechanical model. Public Library of Science 2012-07-16 /pmc/articles/PMC3397976/ /pubmed/22815724 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040063 Text en Wolff et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Wolff, Lars
Fernández, Pablo
Kroy, Klaus
Resolving the Stiffening-Softening Paradox in Cell Mechanics
title Resolving the Stiffening-Softening Paradox in Cell Mechanics
title_full Resolving the Stiffening-Softening Paradox in Cell Mechanics
title_fullStr Resolving the Stiffening-Softening Paradox in Cell Mechanics
title_full_unstemmed Resolving the Stiffening-Softening Paradox in Cell Mechanics
title_short Resolving the Stiffening-Softening Paradox in Cell Mechanics
title_sort resolving the stiffening-softening paradox in cell mechanics
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3397976/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22815724
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0040063
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